Providing a good work-life balance is one of those things that has been widely proven to be beneficial, not only to employees who have less stress, lower absenteeism, higher employee engagement and often better productivity, but also by virtue of these things, the employer benefits too.  In work, less is often more, yet this seemingly counterintuitive finding is sometimes hard for managers to swallow.

A recent paper from Cranfield School of Management suggests we might benefit from rethinking how we think about work-life balance in order to get over this mental barrier.

“There is strong evidence to suggest that designing policies to help the whole workforce achieve a good work-life balance brings wider benefits to employers. Therefore, it is crucial that managers and HR practitioners think differently to encompass the needs and preferences of the entire workforce,” the authors say.

The article argues that work-life balance policies too often focus on the needs of working parents alone, and omit consideration of new, modern ways of working (and living).  Not only are we therefore not taking into account other kinds of caring activities, but also cultural and religious activities, further education and development, and even leisure activities, which all tend to require our time and energy and are important factors in people’s lives alongside their work.

Changing nature of work

There are fundamental changes to the very nature of work unfolding at the moment that are causing a split from the traditional model of employment that sees us have one, full-time, permanent employer.  Instead, we’re moving towards a model whereby many of us have multiple contracts with multiple clients and are largely our own bosses. The paper urges both the academic community and the employer community to consider this new form of working when researching work-life balance issues.

“As the world of work changes to allow organisations to become more agile, we need to ensure that these work practices suit contemporary lives. Although parental responsibilities continue to be important, the requirement to balance other aspects of our lives with work is equally valid,” the author concludes.